U.S. cloner offers e-mail help

Gerald P. Schatten, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh who was one of the co-authors of a fabricated article on stem cell cloning that was published and later withdrawn from the U.S. journal Science, has agreed to an e-mail investigation request by Korean prosecutors.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said yesterday that Dr. Schatten’s lawyer told them he would not visit Korea but would answer questions through e-mail.
Dr. Schatten’s lawyer was responding to an e-mail that prosecutors had sent to Dr. Schatten on Thursday. The e-mail contained 136 questions concerning what the scientist knew of a stem cell contamination incident in January last year, and why he severed ties with Hwang Woo-suk last autumn.
“In recent investigations, Seoul National University Professor Kang Sung-keun testified that Dr. Schatten advised Dr. Hwang to continue publishing the article even after he was informed of the damaged stem cells. This is slightly different from a statement released by the University of Pittsburgh last week, which said that Dr. Schatten was not directly involved in the fraud,” said Park Han-cheol, a prosecutor.

D.Y. Wohn, Ph.D.

Dr. Wohn is an assistant professor at NJIT where she runs the Social Interaction Lab. Her research is in the area of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) where she studies factors that contribute to socially sustainable technology by understanding non-conscious habits, motivation, and identity. She is particularly interested in technology for social support, psychological wellbeing, and education.